Facing Off
by littlefaerychild
Summary: "You said it yourself John. I'm just a machine." Set during Born to Run. C/J.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi everyone! Just want to let you know that I'm starting a T:SCC story on my new account xxxxsummerfirexxxx. I'll upload the first chapter on either Monday or Tuesday so be sure to check it out! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything!**

**"**Let me repeat: I had nothing to do with your mother's arrest. If I had, there would be a SWAT Team outside your door right now." James was tired of this game he had to play. tired of being caught up in something he knew nothing about. He knew John was just a kid but it was getting very hard for him to care.

**"**And the same thing would happen to this SWAT Team that happened to your last one." John was getting tired too. Tired of running and hiding and fighting to no end and with no results.

James looked to Cameron breifly trying to decide who was more dangerous the killer robot who often went crazy or the pisseed-off teenager. It was quite a toss up actually."Catherine Weaver would like to meet you."

**"**Why?"

**"**She wants to thank you for saving Savannah."

_'He can't really think I'm that stupid can he?,'_ John thought. "Well she just did."

"Your mother wanted to meet her." James tried again to coerce John into coming with him.

"Well, when my mother gets out, trust me, she will." John tried to sound menacing but truthfully he felt weary.

"I told Ms. Weaver that you would never come without your mom. She said if that was the case I'm supposed to ask one question. She says I'm supposed to ask you." He looked towards Cameron once again.

"Will you join us?" Cameron had barely moved through the whole conversation but she'd never looked truly frozen until that moment. "She says she hopes you'll know what that means."

John paused. The question sounded simple enough, Catherine Weaver wanted them on her side, right. But Cameron's stiffening told him there was another meaning there that neither him nor James Ellison could possibly know about. "Do you know what that means?" he asked Cameron, his voice tightening.

"No. I don't. Please leave now, Mr. Ellison. I think you've said enough." Cameron was slipping and with her that could never mean something good.

"John -"

"You've said enough, Mr. Ellison. I won't ask you again."

Finally James left confused, uncertain and more tired than before. It wasn't supposed to go like this and he wasn't sure what the consequences of this outcome might be for him. Cameron shut the door behind him.

"He upset you." She stated.

"Me?" he asked unbelieving, "I think he upset you."

Cameron tilted her head.

"You know that's impossible."

John let out a breath stepping towards her

"Is it?"

"You said it yourself, John. I'm just a machine." Was her voice shaking?

Suddenly John thought of the time she had told him she was in love with him in an effort to keep him from shutting her down permanantly. But why, he wondered, if she had no emotion would she care? And if she could care was it possible that she could love him. And if she could love him, did he love her back?

John was afraid to answer, even in his mind.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: WARNING: THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE IS VERY LONG AND HAS VERY LITTLE TO DO WITH THE STORY: Alright this was really supposed to be a one-shot with the sole purpose of helping me get back in the swing of things after not using fanfiction for so long but ya know what I realized about this site; I still hate it. I can't edit anything without taking it down first, any changes I make take forever to show and I really just can't stand it. So to be honest for all of those reasons this fic sucked. I'm entirely aware of that and I really just can't let it stay that way so I have to make it at least a little better and to do that I'm going to add a few chapters just to even it out. So I'll be posting a new chapter every day until whenever I decide to end it but keep in mind that I have crazy amounts of homework to do that will come first and so it still might not be any good and it will probably be very short but hey it's worth a shot right? Well on with the story:**

John sat at the table listening to Cameron pass her message on to the Father. Her voice sounded off to him and if she were human he would have thought she was feeling emotional, scared or upset. But she wasn't human and so as usual John had no clue what to think about her. Like earlier when he was feeling up her "breastplate" he had thought that she was going to kiss him. He thought he was going to kiss _her._ But neither one did and they were right back to where they had begun. Both alone and unattached but neither one acknowledging it - not out loud anyways.

A part of John wished that anyone but Cameron had been sent back to protect him. A terminator that actually acted like a terminator. One that didn't dance or smile at him or amble around the house half naked. One that just did its job instead of making him feel like- one that didn't make him feel. Because he really couldn't take it anymore. Cameron would always be there with him but he could never be there with her. Not the way he wanted to be.

Cameron finished her conversation and turned towards John ready to leave but she hesitated. He looked so - well she wasn't really sure. She knew very little about human emotion other than that it could complicate a situation faster and make a person hurt much more than any bullet could. Future John had rarely shown much emotion in front of her and even less in front of anyone else. It made him tactful and calm in ways others couldn't be. Back then she'd thought it was a good thing. Thought it defended him against the daily life-threatening events he faced. She wasn't so sure anymore that his stoic outlook had been beneficial for him or for anyone else.

"John?" she finally asked, shaking him from his reverie, "Are you ready?"

"No. Let's go."

* * *

"I sent you a message. I told you!" Sarah fumed.

"Yeah bad john Connor! Ground me." _'Yep. That's my mom for you. Break her out of jail and the first thing she does is yell at you. It's not like I expected anything different. Still it's not like a thanks for not letting me rot in prison would've killed her.'_

He looked back at Cameron and cringed. She'd looked better. "Are you okay?"

"I am not one hundred percent." No, duh. He knew she didn't feel any pain but he doubted she was feeling all that dandy_. _He wished he could've done something to change this. To comfort her in some way. But as they'd both pointed out, she was just a machine and there was nothing he could do for her.

"How far from one hundred percent are you?" _'Oh no,'_ John thought, _'She's planning something stupid. Isn't prison supposed to change your ways or something? Maybe I did break her out too soon.' _He shook his head guiltily at that. It was cruel though maybe not entirely unfair...

"Because I need to meet Catherine Weaver. And she needs to destroy whatever's in that basement."

Oh, yeah. Definitely stupid.

* * *

Cameron was not exactly looking forward to this. Sure she almost always came out ahead in a fight, even with other terminators but although she didn't say it to Sarah she knew exactly how far from one hundred percent she was. And it was far. Too far. She'd lost the grace she usually fought with from the massive amounts of bullets that had damaged her, some parts of her were barely responding, others weren't responding at all and she had no proof that her chip had not been damaged. Cameron wasn't sure that she could protect John from a human like this, let alone a robot. What if she failed? Humans didn't matter to her as a whole. Most of them were horrible beings, many stole or hurt or killed whenever they wanted something and very few were ever useful or good. But she cared about John. He was the reason for her existence, literally. She'd first been programed to kill him and then to protect him but it was always about him. If she couldn't protect him, if he got hurt somehow she would have no real reason to exist. '_ I'm scared,'_ she thought, _'But I'm not, am I? I can't be.'_

_'Right?'_

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